🇫🇷The Barnier Government
🇫🇷The Barnier Government
Apparently we’re influential or something, the new French Government, the Bank of France signals optimism, and Eric Ciotti quits Les Républicains
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This week
📊Apparently we’re influential or something
🏛️The new French Government
💶Bank of France signals optimism
🤡Eric Ciotti quits Les Républicains
📊Apparently we’re influential or something
So, a quick celebration after some good news this week: as some of you who follow me on social media may have learned, your favourite editor of your favourite newsletter was ranked as one of the most influential people on EU Social media, using metrics that I honestly couldn’t explain even if I knew
Coming in as the 18th most influential in the unified rankings, 19th on Twitter, and 41st on LinkedIn, I’m honestly just happy to know people actually see and get something positive (I hope??) out of my work!
However, onto more important things:
🏛️The new French Government
So, after months of negotiations, drama, and waiting, France now has its 45th government, led by Michel Barnier.
Comprised of members of Renaissance, MoDem, Horizons and Les Republicains, as well as some minor parties, the government here is a departure to the right, with some curious inclusions.
We’ll put together an in-depth look over the next few days, but for now, here is the list of names:
Ministers
Michel Barnier (LR) - Prime Minister
Didier Migaud (PS) – Minister of Justice
Catherine Vautrin – Minister for Partnership with the Territories and Decentralization
Bruno Retailleau (LR) – Minister of the Interior
Anne Genetet (Renaissance) – Minister of National Education
Jean-Noël Barrot (MoDem) – Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs
Rachida Dati (LR) – Minister of Culture and Heritage
Sébastien Lecornu (Renaissance) – Minister of the Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs
Agnès Pannier-Runacher (Renaissance) – Minister of Ecological Transition, Energy, Climate and Risk Prevention
Antoine Armand (Renaissance) – Minister of Finance, Economy and Industry
Geneviève Darrieussecq (MoDem) – Minister of Health and Access to Care
Paul Christophe – Minister of Solidarity, Autonomy and Equality between Women and Men
Valérie Létard (UDI) – Minister of Housing and Urban Renewal
Annie Genevard (LR) – Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry
Astrid Panosyvan-Bouvet (Renaissance) – Minister of Labour and Employment
Gil Averous (ex-LR) – Minister of Sports, Youth and Community Life
Patrick Hetzel (LR) – Minister of Higher Education and Research
Guillaume Kasbarian (Renaissance) – Minister of the Civil Service, Simplification and Transformation of Public Action
Ministers Delegate
Benjamin Haddad (Renaissance) – Minister Delegate for Europe
Nathalie Delattre – Minister Delegate for Relations with Parliament
Maud Bregeon (Renaissance) – Government Spokesperson
Marie-Claire Carrère-Gée – Minister Delegate for Government Coordination
Françoise Gatel – Minister Delegate for Rural Affairs, Trade and Crafts
Nicolas Daragon (LR) - Minister Delegate for Everyday Security
François Durovray (LR) – Minister Delegate for Transport
Fabrice Loher (UDI) – Minister Delegate for the Sea and Fisheries
Marc Ferracci (Renaissance) – Minister Delegate for Industry
Alexandre Portier – Minister Delegate for Academic Success and Vocational Education
Sophie Primas – Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade and French Nationals Abroad
Marie-Agnès Poussier-Winsback (Horizons) – Minister Delegate for the Social and Solidarity Economy, Profit-sharing and Participation
Marina Ferrari – Minister Delegate for the Tourism Economy
Olga Givernet – Minister Delegate for Energy
Agnès Canayer – Minister Delegate for the Family and Early Childhood
Secretaries of State
Laurence Garnier (LR) – Secretary of State for Consumer Affairs
Othman Nasrou – Secretary of State for Citizenship and the Fight against Discrimination
Thani Mohamed Soilihi – Secretary of State for Francophonie and International Partnerships
Salima Saa – Secretary of State for Gender Equality
Clara Chappaz – Secretary of State for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Affairs
Make sure you’re subscribe to the French Dispatch to get the full background note on the new government, including the political balance and other fun facts.
But this also all depends on whether he can even survive the political situation
💶Bank of France signals optimism
Moving onto the economy next, we received some good news this week, with the Bank of France announcing that it was expecting the French economy to grow by 1.1% in 2024, compared to the 0.8% expected of the Eurozone.
This has been put down to the “positive impact of the Olympic Games”, as well as foreign trade, with “domestic private demand remaining fairly sluggish”.
Not only this, but there are some preliminary indications that GDP in 2025 will increase by 1.2%, thanks to an expected restart in business investments and household consumption picking up, leading to more growth.
Alongside this, it’s expected that inflation falling sharply compared to the 5.7% we saw in 2023, dropping to an expected 2.5% by the end of this year to 1.5% in 2025.
The Bank of France has also set out forecasts for 2026, expecting growth of 1.5%.
There is also some small bad news to come with this, with expectations of a rise in the unemployment rate from 7.5% in 2024 to 7.6% in 2025, before an expected drop to 7.3% in 2026.
🤡Eric Ciotti quits Les Républicains
Well well well, what a funny final story!
As you all remember, Eric Ciotti had the mother of all tantrums earlier this year when he tried to unilaterally make an alliance with the far right despite 90% of his party being against it. This led to one of the funniest series of political events we had seen in France for almost a decade.
Kicking everybody out of the headquarters, locking himself in alone, hovering out of the balcony of the building for god knows what reason, and then engaging in several legal shenanigans to stop himself from being kicked out of the party or demoted from the presidency, it looks like Eric Ciotti has seen the writing on the wall.
And for the time being, he is now an independent.
The saddest thing about all of this is that Ciotti had clung to the far-right in a desperate attempt to find a ministerial position and attempt to put forward his far-right agenda.
However, Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella saw him mostly as a useful idiot, and almost nobody followed him from Les Républicains, so he quickly found himself dumped to the side.
Even sadder? Poor Eric Ciotti now gets to see his friends becoming ministers while he quits a party he had almost total control over before he betrayed it’s core, Gaullist values.
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Thanks for your update and congratulations on your success with being a "Franceluencer" ;)